Memories
by tam
Summary: How Dawn came to have a crush on Xander


TITLE: Memories  
AUTHOR: tam  
E-MAIL: onetruelady21@yahoo.com  
FEEDBACK: Yes please!   
DISTRIBUTION: Anywhere just email me and let me know first.  
SPOILERS: Takes place in season 2. Between WML II and Ted. But it has 5th Season spoilers concerning Dawn.  
RATING: PG  
DISCLAIMER: Not mine. Only Borrowing from Joss, the Mutant Enemy, and Fox. I'm not making any profit from this story.  
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Ever since we learned the origin of Dawn, I've wondered what kind of memories did she have of the past. So I decided that a fic about her memories would be a good idea. Maybe I'll turn it into a series.  
AUTHOR'S NOTE II: A special thanks to my betas Chrissy, BtVS Lover, and Mike.   
SUMMARY: How Dawn came to have a crush on Xander   


"But why do I need a babysitter? I'm nine years old, and I'm very mature for my age."I flop on Buffy's bed. She gives me that evil look that is reserved just for me. I feel so special. 

"Dawn you are not staying here alone. Mom and Dad never let me stay alone when I was nine, so you won't either." I watch her put her lots of eye makeup. I wonder should I tell her that makes her look like a slut. Nah I'll let her find out on her own. Then again maybe that's the look she's going far now that I notice what she's wearing. Tight lavender shirt, white mini-skirt, and white knee high boots. Maybe she's going to a go-go dancer audition. With the make-up, outfit, and bad dye job she's a shoe in. 

"Well, Buff hate to break this to you, but I'm a lot more matureat nine than you are at 16, so I think I can handle it."  


"First off didn't I tell you never to call me Buff. And second,shut up and do as I say. Mom put me in charge while she's in LA for the weekend."  


"Obviously, a lack in judgement on her part." I mumble. "Hey where are you going anyway? To see Angel I bet. If you don't let me stay alone I'll tell Mom you're sneaking off to see your boyfriend." Blackmail always works as a last resort.   


"It is none of you business what I'm doing. Don't you have Sesame Street to watch or Barbies to play with?"  


"For you information I retired from dolls and kiddie PBS programs long ago." Just because she just stopped doing those things last year doesn't mean we all mature so slowly.   


"Dawn just go do something. Anything. I don't care what it is. Just leave me alone and let me finish getting ready. Xander will be here soon to baby sit you."  


"Fine. Whatever." 

Xander. 

Great. 

Someone on the same level as Buffy intelligence wise. Just what I need. It seems that he needs someone babysitting him instead of the other way around. Why couldn't she get Willow to do it? I like Willow. She's so smart and nice. In other words nothing like Buffy at all. I rather have her get that Cordelia person to watch me. Sure she was mean to Buffy when we saw her at the mall last weekend, but at least she had cool clothes. Xander's just goofy. This is going to be a long night. Maybe food will help ease the pain.  


Just as I'm putting the finishing touches on my sandwich I hear the doorbell ring. It must be the Xand-Man. That what he always tells me to call him. I have my doubts that he is actually 16. I'm thinking he's just a tall five-year-old.   


I peak around the corner into the living room. Xander's shirt is so loud I might need to go upstairs to get my sunglasses. It looks like they're having a serious conversation. Hmm maybe I can hear something interesting to put in my chronicles.  


"Nice outfit Buffy. Doesn't look like slayage gear though. You wouldn't happen to be going to see our favorite vampire would you?" Slayage? Vampire? What is he talking about?  


"Keep your voice down Xander. Dawn's in the kitchen. Yes I'm going to see Angel after I patrol. I can get major vampire butt in this outfit." What's patrolling? Angel's a vampire? It must some new stupid slang they made up. Of course I'll still record it in the chronicles just in case. It could turn out to be interesting. "Angel needs me. He still hasn't fully recovered yet from the ordeal with Spike and Drusilla, and I have just what the doctor ordered: lots and lots of smoochies." It's good to see that Xander looks probably as sick as I do with the thought of Buffy and Angel kissing. Although I think it's for different reasons. Its so obvious he's totally in love with Buffy. Can't blame Buff for not returning the feelings though. The choice between handsome Angel and goofy Xander is not hard at all.  


I see that they are finishing up that conversation so I duck back into the kitchen. I know she'll be here soon the give me her last little lecture before she leaves. See here she is. Goofy is right behind her.  


"Okay Dawn I'm leaving. Be good for Xander, and remember bedtime at 10."   


"Sure whatever." She gives me a little pat on the head like I'm a puppy or something and then she's gone. I stare at Xander. He stares back. He so knows nothing about babysitting.  


"So what does the Dawnmeister want to do tonight." Dawnmeister?  


"Well, Xandman the Dawnmeister wants be here alone, but since that's not happening I don't care what we do." I used as much sarcasm as I could while saying that.  


"How about a we watch TV. Or maybe you want to play with your toys. I'll be Ken you'll be Barbie." I swear he and Buffy have the same mind. Maybe they *should* go out together.  


"How about none of the above." I leave him sitting at the kitchen table as I walk upstairs to my room. A couple of minutes later I here a knock at the door. Does he ever give up? It's so obvious I don't like him. "Come in Xander." He pokes his head in, and he's wearing a goofy smile.  


"So you don't want to do TV or play with dolls. Cool. But how about we play America's favorite game."  


"Monopoly?"

"Uh, well no. I was thinking Scrabble. Okay maybe it's America's second favorite game."

"Fine Xander. Lets play Scrabble." He's not going to give up so I might as well play along with Him. We go back downstairs and I see he already has everything set up. I take my place and pick my letters. It shouldn't be too hard to beat him.

"Why don't you go first dear sweet Princess Dawn." He does a little bow when he says that. It was actually kinda funny. You know in a goofy boy way. I look at my letters: 

A T S L E R O

Hmmm I can make "Toe" or "Rat" or "Tale" but I decide not to use any of those. I pick something hard. "Tesla" I'm sure Xander doesn't know that word, but thanks to my word of the day calendar I do. As soon as I put my tiles on the board Xander starts protesting. I knew that he would.

"Hey that's not a word."

"Yes it is to a word."

"So if it is a word what does it mean?"

"It's the unit of magnetic flux density in the International System." While I'm telling him this he's flipping through the dictionary.

"Well, so it is." I stick out my tongue at him. He does it back to me. And I actually laugh. I can't believe I'm having a good time with Xander Harris. Must be a maricle night. Next thing I'll know Buffy will be a good student. I watch as he takes his turn. He adds a "S" "P" and "Z" to my "A" in tesla.

"Spaz is not a word Xander."

"Hey if you can pick a weird word like tesla then I can use spaz."

"But tesla is a real word. Spaz is not."

"Try telling that to Cordelia Chase. She calls me that so much I'm sure Webster has added it to dictionary." I laugh at him again. He's not as bad as I thought. But at the mention of Cordelia I have to play with him a little. He talks about Cordelia so much I think he kinda likes her.

"Cordelia's pretty." I glance at him quickly as I pick more tiles. He looks surprised for a moment. Then that goofy smile returned.

"Yeah Queen C is pretty, and I'm sure if you ask she'll be more than happy to bore you to death with the exact science of her beauty." I smile at him.

"She's not so bad. She's not any less shallow than Buffy." The smile left his face.

"Cordy is nothing at all like Buffy. Buffy is someone you look up to and who you are proud to be a friend of. Cordelia is someone who looks down on people if they don't come from the same type of family as her or, dress and act like her." Whoa he said that passionately. Maybe he doesn't like Cordelia, but I see I was right about him being all in love with my sis.

"Well you didn't know her when we lived in LA. She wasn't that different than Cordelia." He looks thoughtful before he speaks again.

"Maybe so, but the point is that she isn't like that anymore. She's grown a lot."

"Well maybe she's nice to her friends, but she's never nice to me. Sometimes I think she doesn't like me, and wishes she were an only child. She can be so selfish sometimes. Like now instead of being here spending some quality sister time with me she's off playing with her boyfriend." I bow my head so he can't see the tears that are forming in my eyes. I feel his hand on my chin as he lifts it up so he can look me in the eye.

"I know how it is to be the youngest," he says as he wipes my tears away. "I don't have any brothers of sisters, but I have this older cousin. His name is Eric. Eric's five years older than me. Everytime he came to visit he made my life a living hell. I don't know how many beatings and name callings I took from him. They got even worse when I cried. My father always told me to be a man, and that it was a part of life. I still didn't like it though. I was like you I saw that Eric was nice to everyone but me. Which made me feel even lower. Something changed my opinion of him one day though. I was at the park, and this bully was about to beat me up. I closed my eyes and waited for the first punch to land, but it never did. So I opened my eyes and there was Eric. He had the bully face down in the dirt, and telling him never to mess with his cousin again. Saying I was shocked would be an understatement. Here is a guy who I thought hated my guts defending me. He then came over to me, smacked me on the head, and said never to tell anybody about this. I finally realized it's just a natural instinct for an older brother, sister, or cousin to reign terror on us little ones. It doesn't mean they don't love us. I know for a fact Buffy loves you very much." He leaned over and kissed me softly on the forehead. Wow, that actually made sense. And I feel a lot better now.

"Thanks Xander. That really helps a lot."

"No problem Dawny." He smiles at me. For some reason his smile doesn't look quite as goofy as before. "But just because you're younger than Buffy doesn't mean you can't do anything to her." Okay now he had me real curious.

"What can I do to Buffy? She's bigger and older than me."

"Well don't tell anyone I told you this. I don't want to be accuse of corrupting you." He leaned in close to me and whispered as if someone else was in the room to overhear us. "When Eric was sleeping over one night I got a can of my Dad's shaving cream and sprayed some in both of his hands. Then I took a feather and tickled his nose with it till he reached up to scratch it." I started laughing real hard.

"So when he scratched it he had shaving cream all over his face!" I exclaimed.

"Right. Of course I got beat up for doing that, but it was worth it."

"Thanks for the talk Xander. I still think Buffy's a dumb bimbo, but I feel better now." He shakes his head and laughs.

"Well that's all that counts Dawny. Okay so lets get back to our game. I think with the letters I have and the ones of the board I can spell butthole." 

"Xander!"

We played scrabble till Buffy came home with her hair all messy and her clothes slightly rumpled. I guess it took a whole lot of smoochies to bring Angel back to health. I excused myself to go up to my room, but before I went I gave Xander a huge hug. "Thanks for everything." He kissed my on the top of my head.

"Hey anything for the Dawnmeister." I smile at him and run up the stairs to my room. The Xand-man is not bad at all I think as I go into Mom's bathroom to look for her shaving gel and a feather. 


End file.
